June 2008
newsletter of the constitutional and administrative law bar association
Evening Seminar
“Modern Public Inquiries”
On 18th June 2008, 17.45 – 19.15 ALBA is holding a seminar on “Modern
Public Inquiries”.
The speakers are Sir Louis Blom-Cooper QC (Vice President of ALBA) and
and Nigel Giffin QC (11 KBW).
The venue for the seminar is Lincoln’s Inn Old Hall. It has been registered for
1.5 CPD points (with the Bar Council and Law Society).
All are welcome, there is no charge to attend, and no advance registration is
necessary. We hope that there will be room for all, however please arrive early to
ensure that you obtain a seat.
Annual Summer Conference
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ALBA’s 2008 summer conference will be held in St John’s College Cambridge
from Friday 25th July (evening) – Sunday 27th July (lunchtime).
Confirmed speakers and chairs include Lords Justices Laws and Keene, Richard
Gordon QC, Karon Monaghan QC, Jason Coppel, Jessica Simor, Jonathan
Moffett, Oliver Sanders and Gisela Stuart MP. Other members of the judiciary will
also be chairing sessions.
As ever, the conference is an opportunity to hear a series of stimulating talks on
key areas of public law from many leaders in the field, together with social
events, dinner and the chance to earn 6½ CPD points (both Bar Council & Law
Society CPD). A booking form is attached.
Please send your completed booking form, accompanied by a cheque, to Julie
Albrektsen, Matrix Chambers, Griffin Building, Gray’s Inn, London WC1R 5LN,
DX 400 Chancery Lane.
Please direct any questions about the conference to Jonathan Auburn, 4-5
Gray’s Inn Sq. 020-7404-5252, ja@4-5.co.uk or Vikram Sachdeva, 39 Essex St,
020-7832-1111, vikram.sachdeva@39essex.com.
Future Meetings: Date for Diaries
On 2nd October 2008 ALBA will hold its annual human rights seminar: “Human
Rights Act: The Annual Update”. The speakers will be John Wadham, Legal
Director of the Equality and Human Rights Commission and Tim Otty QC. Inner
Temple Hall, 17.45 – 19.15.
On 4th November 2008 ALBA’s Annual Lecture will be given by Lord Bingham
of Cornhill, 6pm, Inner Temple Hall.
June 2008
newsletter of the constitutional and administrative law bar association
Regionalisation of the Administrative Court
In April 2009 the Administrative Court will open regional centres in Birmingham,
Cardiff, Leeds and Manchester.
The initial proposal for the regionalisation of the Administrative Court was
published in the Report of the Judicial Working Group in January 2007. The
Working Group was asked in April 2006 to consider and make recommendations
about arrangements for Lords Justices and High Court Judges to hear cases out
of London. The Group concentrated, although not exclusively, on the hearing of
civil and Administrative Court cases by High Court Judges, and the Report
mainly concerned the deployment outside London of judges of the Queen’s
Bench Division.
The main recommendations of the Report were that:
(a)
fully operational offices of the Administrative Court should be established
in Cardiff, Birmingham, Manchester and Leeds and that judges should regularly
sit to hear Administrative Court cases in those centres;
(b)
applications under the Terrorism Acts 2000 and 2005 and applications
which must be or usually are heard by a Divisional Court of the Queen’s Bench
Division should normally be heard in London;
(c)
there should be a strong expectation that Welsh cases in the
Administrative Court should be heard in Wales and that rules of court or a
practice direction should make provision to that effect;
(d)
at least 3 section 9 deputy High Court Judges trained and nominated to
sit in the Administrative Court should be attached to each of the 4 regional
centres;
(e)
there should be two Queen’s Bench Division liaison judges to operate in
tandem with the existing Chancery supervising judges;
(f)
the first call on the Queen’s Bench Division liaison judges’ sitting time
would be Administrative Court work out of London. Further QB judges should be
deployed to hear civil and Administrative cases if the volume of work requires
this;
(g)
the listing of all High Court and specialist civil cases at each centre
should be co-ordinated under the same administration and preferably in the
same place;
(h)
the Chancery and Queen’s Bench Division liaison judges should, with
presiding judges, provide support for specialist circuit judges and Designated
Civil Judges; and
(i)
there should be appropriate training for nominated section 9 deputy High
Court judges and administrative staff.
The proposals are expected to be approved by the Ministry of Justice some time
this month. The intention of establishing regional centres is to ensure a full ability
to process public law cases from issuing all the way through to hearing. The
proposals envisage that the regional centres will have the ability to issue
proceedings; case worker support to follow up the applications; a registry section
to file and keep cases; and 6 weeks’ judicial sitting time each term for the
appointed High Court Judges, Langstaff and Beatson JJ. The appointed High
Court Judge would be in charge of 2 regions; and will be in charge of all the work
and act as the urgent applications judge. There will be 2, 3 or sometimes 4 High
Court Judges available to undertake Administrative Court work in the regional
centres although it is envisaged that the normal complement will be 2 High Court
Judges, and it is intended that the High Court Judges will be supported by
Deputies. It is intended that the current limitations on the work to be undertaken
by Deputies will be modified to increase the range and complexity of the work
they may undertake (although these proposals have yet to be formulated).
June 2008
newsletter of the constitutional and administrative law bar association
ALBA welcomes the proposals that the Administrative Court be regionalised on
the basis that the proposals will secure the following objectives and safeguards:
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the aim is to ensure better access to justice to claimants and defendants;
the development of work at regional centres will be demand-led and, in relation
to Wales, should reflect the devolution settlement and the recognition of the
principle that decisions taken by the Welsh Assembly Government, affecting
Wales, should generally be heard in Wales;
the principle of assigning only designated judges to Administrative Court work
must remain unchanged;
there should be a reserved list of matters that are suitable for transfer to
London (in particular cases concerning terrorism legislation), and a discretion
for other cases to be transferred to London where appropriate;
the administrative and computer systems in place in regional centres will meet
the same standard achieved by the Administrative Court in London; those
administrative and computer systems will be linked, so that court staff in one
region/London have full access to the records of the others;
cases raising common issues in different regions/London and/or issues of
general public importance must be identified and heard together whenever
appropriate;
litigants at regional centres will be represented by lawyers of comparable
expertise and experience to the legal assistance that they currently receive;
appropriate legal aid funding needs to be in place to ensure that there is no
adverse impact on the quality of justice;
care will be taken in ensuring that Deputy High Court Judges are used
appropriately; and specifically, must not be used to consider paper applications
under section 103A of the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002;
proper provision must be made for urgent applications in the regions in the
event that the presiding High Court judge is unavailable; and
the decisions in the regional centres must be reported and made available to
practitioners.
Other Events of Interest to Members
The University of Essex Clifford Chance Lecture 2008 will be given by Lord
Phillips of Worth Matravers on the evening of November 6th 2008 at the offices
of Clifford Chance in Upper Bank Street, Canary Wharf. If you would like an
invitation, please contact Gail Chapman (gchap@essex.ac.uk) to have your
name put on the guest list.
The Law Society of Hong Kong is hosting the 16th Commonwealth Law
Conference from 5th to 9th April 2009 at the Hong Kong Convention &
Exhibition Centre.The theme of the conference is “The Dynamics of Law in a
Rapidly Changing World”. Full details of the speakers and how to register may
be found at www.commonwealthlaw2009.org.
June 2008
newsletter of the constitutional and administrative law bar association
20% Discount with Oxford University Press - Advertisement
OUP are delighted to offer members of ALBA an exclusive discount on three
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Contact Us
Please visit the ALBA website at www.adminlaw.org.uk and click on the
link headed “contact us”
Membership enquiries: Please send membership enquiries to Deok Joo Rhee
Membership Secretary, ALBA, 11 Kings’ Bench Walk, London EC4Y 7EQ
rhee@11kbw.com. Members who have registered their email addresses and
are in receipt of a membership login and password are able to update their own
details (with any change of address etc) via the ALBA website
(www.adminlaw.org.uk).
ALBA Summer Conference
St John’s College Cambridge 25-27 July 2008
BOOKING FORM
Please book me a place on the conference
Name
Organisation
Address
Postcode
Tel. (work)
E-mail
Special Dietary Requirements
Disability (Please let us know if
you require specific facilities)
Rates [Note that ALBA does not profit from the conference. In fact we make a loss and subsidise
it.]
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£240
barrister under 5 years’ call / voluntary sector lawyers
£250
non-resident (attending conference without College
accommodation)
£350
all others
I would like to reserve parking and enclose an additional £10 to cover 2 nights’
parking
I enclose a cheque for £ _______ made payable to “ALBA”
Signed ______________________
Please return the form with your cheque to Julie Albrektsen, Matrix Chambers, Griffin
Building, Gray’s Inn, London WC1R 5LN, DX 400 Chancery Lane. Please direct any
questions about the conference to Jonathan Auburn, 4-5 Gray’s Inn Sq. 020-7404-5252,
ja@4-5.co.uk or Vikram Sachdeva, 39 Essex St, 020-7832-1111,
vikram.sachdeva@39essex.com